Brazilians in Michel de Montaigne's Essay "Of Cannibals"
When describing native Brazilian people in his 1580 essay, “Of Cannibals,” Michel de Montaigne states, “Truly here are real savages by our standards; for either they must be thoroughly so, or we must be; there is an amazing distance between their character and ours” (158). Montaigne doesn’t always maintain this “amazing” distance, however, between savages and non-savages or between Brazilians and Europeans; he first portrays Brazilians as non-barbaric people who are not like Europeans, then as non-barbarians who best embody traditional European values, and finally as barbarians who are diametrically opposed to Europeans.
First, Montaigne portrays Brazilians as non-barbaric people who are not like Europeans. He asserts, “I think there is nothing barbarous and savage in that nation…except that each man calls barbarism whatever is not his own practice” (152). Through his discussion of certain salient qualities that define these “other,” non-barbaric, Brazilian people, Montaigne actually elevates the Brazilians above Europeans. For example, he writes, “Those [Brazilian] people are wild, just as we call wild the fruits that Nature has produced by herself and in her normal course; whereas really it is those that we have changed artificially and led astray from the common order, that we should rather call wild” (152). After likening wild Brazilians to wild fruits, he implies that they both “retain alive and vigorous their genuine, their most useful and natural, virtues and properties, which we have debased in the [artificial fruits] in adapting them to gratify our corrupted taste” (152). For Montaigne, wildness and natural virtues are characteristics that are u...
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...s the superiority of the former to the latter; in the second case, he greatly decreases the distance between the two groups and the level of superiority that Brazilians have over Europeans. Finally, his essay, as a whole, ultimately reinstates a great distance between the two groups, and Europeans reclaim superiority over Brazilians. Notably, in the first two cases, nature is also elevated above art, but art finally subjugates nature. Perhaps this is because Montaigne identifies with “Lycurgus and Plato… [who] could [not] believe that our society could be maintained with so little artifice and human solder” (153). Montaigne’s essay suggests that he relies on the artifice of his writing and interpretations to explore and define social groups, explore and establish social hierarchies, and maintain social order in a manner that ultimately favors him and his people.
In the written piece “Noble Savages” by John Hemming he give an historic account of different European adventures in the Brazilian mainland. He also tells some of the stories about the Brazilian people that were taken back to Europe about the savages’ way of life.
It was demigrated as derivative, imitative of the mainstream Modernism of Western Europe and the United States. At the same time, it was dismissed as essentially hybrid, a fusion of traditions which was weaker than any of its progenitors. In the second of these accusations there is an implication of the racial prejudice which has marked the history of Latin America ever since the Spanish conquest of Mexico in the early sixteenth century.” The Latin American art was often disregarded because of the thought of the art being inferior.
We must begin with Brazil’s history in order to understand the problem and how it came to exist. During the year 1500, Brazil was “discovered” by the Portuguese. The Portuguese saw the indigenous people as “savages” because they did not look or dress like Europeans. Hence, the idea that indigenous people are “savages” help influence the Portuguese that indigenous people need to be controlled and become more civilized. During the 16th century the Portuguese used “black” slaves to work in plantations to increase trading in Europe. After the year 1850 slave trade was abolished, but the Portuguese continued to bring slaves from Africa, illegally. Edward Eric Telles states, “Roughly three hundred years later, when the slave trade ended in 1850, 3.6 million African Americans had been brought to Brazil as slaves, ...
Like many Latin American countries, Brazil was originally inhabited by over two thousand distinct Native American tribes who’s history goes back over 10,000 years. However, they left scarce written records, hence little is know about them. Even so, today, Brazil is home to the largest population of un-contacted people in the world. During the age of colonization, Portugal flourished as it expanded its territories in both Africa and India. Yet, competition among colonizers increased as Portugal continued to zero-sum vie for territory against Spain. Pope Alexander VI fearing trade wars between two Catholic countries, declared in the Treaty of Tordesillas that newly discovered land, outside of Europe, to the west of the antemeridian* line to be considered Spanish and east Portuguese. Yet, unbeknownst to Pope Alexander VI, Brazil jettisoned into the Atlantic well beyond the antemeridian. In 1500 CE Portuguese’s explorers made first contact in Brazil and claimed it for Portugal.
In the Enseigne, art is also shown to serve a function that it has always fulfilled in every society founded on class differences. As a luxury commodity it is an index of social status. It marks the distinction between those who have the leisure and wealth to know about art and posses it, and those who do not. In Gersaint’s signboard, art is presented in a context where its social function is openly and self-consciously declared. In summary, Watteau reveals art to be a product of society, nevertheless he refashions past artistic traditions. Other than other contemporary painters however, his relationship to the past is not presented as a revolt, but rather like the appreciative, attentive commentary of a conversational partner.
The imposition of European culture on Natives during the colonization of the New World entailed not only the desire to dominate/convert supposedly inferior Natives but also an accompanying fascination with their contradictory way of life. Europeans saw Native culture as uncivilized and comparable to a primitive state of European existence. Despite this view, Herder’s account in Reflections on the Philosophy of the History of Mankind reflects a Romantic European fascination with the natural and simplistic facets of Native culture. According to Herder, nature has favored Natives by providing them with “no idle fast of pleasing poisons, [nature] has p...
All of Camus' writings may be viewed as a quest for meaningful values in a world of spiritual aridity and emptiness. He begins with man's despair, estrangement, fear, suffering and hopelessness in a world where is neither God nor the promise that He will come- the fundamental absurdity of existence- but ultimately affirms the power of man to achieve spiritual regeneration and the measure of salvation possible in an absurd universe. This radical repudiation of despair and nihilism is closely bound up with his concept of an artist. Camus conceives of art as a way of embracing a consciousness of the absurdity of man's existential plight. But art becomes a means of negating that absurdity because the artist reconstructs the reality, endowing it with unity, endurance and perfection. By taking elements from reality that confirms the absurd existence, an artist attempts to correct the world by words and redistribution. Thus the artist never provides a radical transformation of reality but a fundamental reinterpretation of what already exists. He provides a new angle of vision of perceiving reality. That is why, for Camus, an artist is a recreator of myth. He teaches humanity that contemporary man must abandon the old myths that have become otiose, though once defined his existence. The artist liberates man to live in his world by redefining both man and the condition in which he exists. In this regard, it is important to point out that, for Camus, the traditional opposition between art and philosophy is arbitrary. It is because they together become most effective to create the redefinition: the philosophy awakens the consciousness and the art, propelled by such a radical discovery, ...
In the essay, “Of Cannibals,” Montaigne describes the lives of an indigenous group in Brazil. He compares their beliefs and actions to those of his fellow countrymen during this time, and in many cases prefers the indigenous way of thinking. In this comparison, Montaigne groups all of European Renaissance society to one side because of the similar beliefs concerning imperialism, economics, and societal structure throughout most of the continent. During Montaigne’s time, these beliefs were based in aristocracy and territorial expansion, and will be further discussed later. The purpose of Montaigne’s essay is to criticize and challenge this Renaissance ideology in a time when Europeans were imposing themselves upon peoples in all corners of
“Philosophers, writers, and artists expressed disillusionment with the rational-humanist tradition of the Enlightenment. They no longer shared the Enlightenment's confidence in either reason's capabilities or human goodness.” (Perry, pg. 457) It is interesting to follow art through history and see how the general mood of society changed with various aspects of history, and how events have a strong connection to the art of the corresponding time.
In her article, Renee utters that when the thought of vengeance build up in an individual’s brain, it coerces him insane and does not tolerate him to present it a second thought. The first sentence of the story, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge,” clearly describes the whole theme of the story as a deeply enrooted revenge in Montresor’s mind” which is an absolute portrayal of retribution that occurs due to arrogance and jealousy. Author sees himself as a superior individual and was victimized by a superiority complex which is quite visible through the phrases which he wrote in the story that Montressor expresses superiority as showed his victim as a foolish person by attributing weird physical appearance and dress appearance in which he described his dress code of “tight fitting parti striped dress and head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells.”
In this essay, I shall try to examine how great a role colour played in the evolution of Impressionism. Impressionism in itself can be seen as a linkage in a long chain of procedures, which led the art to the point it is today. In order to do so, colour in Impressionism needs to be placed within an art-historical context for us to see more clearly the role it has played in the evolution of modern painting. In the late eighteenth century, for example, ancient Greek and Roman examples provided the classical sources in art. At the same time, there was a revolt against the formalism of Neo-Classicism. The accepted style was characterised by appeal to reason and intellect, with a demand for a well-disciplined order and restraint in the work. The decisive Romantic movement emphasized the individual’s right in self-expression, in which imagination and emotion were given free reign and stressed colour rather than line; colour can be seen as the expression for emotion, whereas line is the expression of rationality. Their style was painterly rather than linear; colour offered a freedom that line denied. Among the Romanticists who had a strong influence on Impressionism were Joseph Mallord William Turner and Eugéne Delacroix. In Turner’s works, colour took precedence over the realistic portrayal of form; Delacroix led the way for the Impressionists to use unmixed hues. The transition between Romanticism and Impressionism was provided by a small group of artists who lived and worked at the village of Barbizon. Their naturalistic style was based entirely on their observation and painting of nature in the open air. In their natural landscape subjects, they paid careful attention to the colourful expression of light and atmosphere. For them, colour was as important as composition, and this visual approach, with its appeal to emotion, gradually displaced the more studied and forma, with its appeal to reason.
Montaigne's view about human nature against modern civilization is based on two views that we have seen before. Some might even call Montaigne's view of human nature a critical realist believe. So looking at this from this perspective all humans, Europeans and other nationalities have both a standard and noble characteristics. Montaigne also influenced a theory. The theory is the noble savage theory which was later adopted by a few other writers. One writer that adopted it is Jean Jacques Rousseau. Montaigne states that there are many ways that tribal cultures were more superior to the culture of Western Europe at the time of Montaigne's writing career which shows his idealization was a bit chastened. While Montaigne neither punished cannibalism
Thesis: The French Revolution transformed not only the French society, but also had a huge influence and marked impact on what the purposes of the arts and their expression were now, making profound changes in what they would supposed to be used for, in the form of the Neoclassic works of art that made their appearance prior to the French Revolution, in which very special emphasis is given to the patriotic, the nationalist feeling, together with a strong sense of self-sacrifice that should be present in every person’s heart.
For over two thousand years, various philosophers have questioned the influence of art in our society. They have used abstract reasoning, human emotions, and logic to go beyond this world in the search for answers about arts' existence. For philosophers, art was not viewed for its own beauty, but rather for the question of how art and artists can help make our society more stable for the next generation. Plato, a Greek philosopher who lived during 420-348 B.C. in Athens, and Aristotle, Plato’s student who argued against his beliefs, have no exceptions to the steps they had to take in order to understand the purpose of art and artists. Though these two philosophers made marvelous discoveries about the existence of art, artists, and aesthetic experience, Plato has made his works more controversial than Aristotle.
The relationship between art and society: Mimesis as discussed in the works of Aristotle, Plato, Horace and Longinus The relationship between art and society in the works of Plato are based upon his idea of the world of eternal Forms. He believed that there is a world of eternal, absolute and immutable Forms (the world of the Ideal) and thought that this is proven by when man is faced with the appearance of anything in the material world, his mind is moved to a remembrance of the Idea or an absolute and immutable version of the thing he sees. It is this moment of recollection that he wonders about the contrast between the world of shadows and the world of the Ideal. It is in this moment of wondering that man struggles to reach the world of Forms through the use of reason. Anything then that does not serve reason is the enemy of man. Given this, it is only but logical that poetry should be eradicated from society. Poetry shifts man’s focus away from reason by presenting man with imitations of objects from the concrete world. Poetry, with its focus on mimesis or imitation, has no moral value. While Plato sees reality as a shadow of a realm of pure Ideas (which in turn is copied by art), Aristotle sees reality as a process of partially realized forms moving towards their ideal realizations. Given this idea by Aristotle, the mimetic quality of art is redefined as the duplication of the living process of nature and its need to reach its potential form.